Nike Buys Frayser Land From Belz for Expansion

By Eric Smith

Details: Nike Inc. has paid $2.2 million for about 200 acres of vacant land in Frayser from Belz Investco GP for an expansion of its North Memphis distribution center.

Operating in the transaction as Nike TN Inc., the Beaverton, Ore.-based sports giant bought the land in two parcels – a 162.5-acre tract and a 38.4-acre tract, both north of Nike’s 1.1 million-square-foot facility in Belz Enterprises Inc.’s Northridge Industrial Park.

Northwest corner of New Allen Road and New Frayser Raleigh Road

The sale closed Jan. 24, and no financing was associated with the transaction.

The land is classified as farm, according to the Shelby County Assessor of Property. The larger tract has a 2012 appraised value of $428,700; the smaller has a 2012 appraised value of $201,200.

The board of the Memphis and Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine approved last October a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) agreement with Nike for the $301 million project.

According to the approved PILOT, the expansion would retain 1,600 jobs and add 250 more once the expanded facility opens, said Willie Gregory, Nike director of Community and Business Relations.

The PILOT amounts to a $57.8 million tax break with a local tax benefit of $105.3 million in return. The benefit-cost ratio is $1.82 in revenue for every tax dollar abated.

The addition to Northridge would be a supply chain logistics distribution center. With such an addition in Frayser, Nike would move out of space it has been leasing at 8400 Winchester Road. Employees from Winchester would move to the Frayser addition of 1.8 million square feet.

Nike’s 1,700 employees across Memphis are the company’s second largest workforce in the U.S. behind only its Beaverton headquarters.

The company bought the 79,350-square-foot facility in a Jan. 25 special warranty deed from RockTenn CP LLC, a Norcross, Ga.-based entity that operates more than 245 facilities in the U.S. – including two in the Memphis area – Canada, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and China, according to the company’s website.

J-Line Pump, a division of American-Marsh Pumps, “focuses on the irrigation, water well and fire protection markets worldwide,” according to its website.

The 12.41-acre property J-Line Pump bought sits on the north side of South Street and includes a mill that was built in 1975, whose Shelby County Assessor of Property 2012 appraised value was $1.8 million. It is adjacent to another J-Line property that faces Progress Road.

A manufacturer of special structures and hardware from “apitong” (structural) wood and aluminum for the utility industry, Aluma-Form expanded its facility in 2010, filing a loan at that time through Regions Bank.

The new facility brought added capacity, allowing Aluma-Form to increase manufacturing of its newly developed “fiberglass equipment mounts” and “fiberglass guy strain insulators,” products used to stabilize utility poles, a company spokesman said.

Aluma-Form was founded in 1961 by John Salmon. The company’s first product, an aluminum platform, also was the origin of its name. Aluma-Form’s products include “cross-arm braces” and “dead-end arms,” where a line of utility poles turn a corner.

The company, which manufactures all of its products at its Memphis location, sells its line of products throughout the U.S. and Canada, as well as in parts of the Caribbean, with Jamaica being a big customer.